Wings' Streak Snapped; Mammoth Collar Bandits

Dean Hill's goal, his only score of the night, with just two second remaining would close out the half at 10-3. Hill finished with three points.

"I forgot that it was 400 until they started yelling for the ball on the bench," Ratcliff said. "It's a pretty cool feeling to score that many in this league."

Ratcliff joined eight Stealth players in the scoring including Athan Iannucci, who made his first trip back to Philadelphia since coming over to the Stealth, with a goal and two assists.

Captain Kyle Sorensen and Jeff Moleski both finished with a goal and an assist and Justin Salt had two goals.

"When you have guys that are used to having the ball and taking the shot, its tough to get everyone on the same page," Ratcliff said. "Duch, Nooch (Iannucci) and myself are all starting to mesh and play better as a unit."

Duch's four goals gave the Victoria, British Columbia native eight hat tricks on the season.

In the third, Philadelphia opened, scoring two of the first three to narrow the gap to 11-5, before Duch delivered his third and Salt netted his second.

In the fourth, following Ratcliff's goal with just over seven minutes remaining to put Washington ahead at 14-8, the Stealth were faced with their first real test of the night as Mitch McMichael was whistled for a illegal cross check.

Forced to kill a five-minute major and the threat of a Wings comeback, possession – and Bob Snider, became the insurance necessary to lock in the win.

"He was huge," said Hall of Snider who finished the night taking 25 of 29 faceoffs from the Wings and eliminating the chance of a second come-from-behind win in as many games for Philadelphia.

"Especially late in the game. The odds were that you're getting the ball back and can kill 30 (seconds) off the penalty," he said. "Huge."

In the end, Washington killed the penalty and held Philadelphia to just two more scores.

For Philadelphia, who struggled without captain Brodie Merrill in the lineup, Paul Rabil managed a goal and two assists, while Drew Westervelt had a goal and three assists.

The Stealth remains on the road next week for a Saturday, March 16 match-up with Minnesota in the rubber-match of the three-game series with the Swarm. Game time is 4:00 p.m. PT from the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Following a week off, the Stealth return home to Comcast Arena for a Saturday, March 30 contest with rival Calgary. Game time is 6:45 p.m. PT.

* * * *

DENVER – The Colorado Mammoth scored eight straight goals in the final quarter-plus on Saturday evening to overtake the Buffalo Bandits at First Niagara Center. In a game of runs, the Mammoth outlasted the Bandits in the first of a two-game series with a 12-6 victory.

The Bandits scored the lone three goals of the first quarter. In the second, transition player Cameron Holding assisted on three straight to even the contest. After exchanging goals in the final 2:34 of the half, the game was tied at four at the break with the Mammoth outshooting the Bandits, 32-14.

"Our game-plan can't change no matter what the score," said Colorado head coach Bob Hamley, referring to the slow start. "We've got to keep peppering them with shots and we did that. We didn't get fazed; we didn't get discouraged and we battled through it."

The second half started off similar to the first, as the Bandits grabbed the momentum with two early goals by Dhane Smith and Nick Cotter. Colorado's counter-attack proved to be too much, tying the game at six through three.